Floodlight

Am I confused???

Bush vetoed the child health insurance act because, uh? "I support the poor children." ???

Oh, my aching head...

Three months ago White House spokesman Tony Snow said that the firing of eight US Attorneys was "Performance based." Yesterday he denied ever having said that!

Anyway...

NO ONE in this administration can open his or her mouth without lying!!!

Big, Long, and worth the read...really!

You need to read this!

I really wasn't going to touch this, but...

"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework, and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well, and if you don’t you get stuck in Iraq.”

OK, he was supposed to say, "...you get us stuck in Iraq." And then he went on to fail to clarify the botched joke (but that's Kerry all over.)

But did anyone not understand that it was Bush was who was referred to as, "not making the most of his education, not studying hard, not making an effort...?" Or (even reading it as spoken) that it was Bush who was "stuck in Iraq?" Well not as "stuck" as as the 2,829 dead, 44,799 wounded, or the 150,000  poor schmucks who, out of patriotism and love of community, volunteered for the National Guard, expecting to respond to civil disorder and national disaster and wound up with extended tours in some hell-hole where we can't even say what "victory," let alone "Mission Accomplished" would mean?!?!

But, along with the party that supported him (until recently,) mired, slimed, thrashing helplessly, stuck in Iraq.

Where even our hand-picked government won't let us search for a US serviceman known to have been kidnapped by militants, for g*d's sake.

So what's the most import?
A) Kerry's botched joke
B) Tom Cuise's new deal
C) The total, abysmal, disastrous, insane entry into the war and and it's mindless, endless, goalless prosecution?

How many days?

24/7/365! Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Maybe 24/7/52.

Maybe 24/365.

But 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 52.1428571429 weeks?

I think not!

A Small Eulogy

Hi, friends,

I posted this elsewhere, but it struck home in a way I wanted to share here.

My friends (to paraphrase) “Civility is dead: to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of its burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner…

Civility is as dead as a door-nail.”

It began as a tiny cough, when it became PC to NOT hold a door for a woman with an armload of packages, even though I would do the same for a man. Progressed to a ghastly choking as elbows surplanted “Excuse me"’s at counters, and died a hideous death as cell-phones became more important than the people around you and concern for others on the road, as ’self’ replaced the last vestiges of ‘we’re all in this together,’ c. WWII.

We are descending into a miasma of indifference to others. One in which Narcissism is regarded as a virtue, at least by each individual. We live in a society (if you can call it that) increasingly antithetical to care for others, and blind to the idea that “If I am quiet through this concert, not only will I be kinder to others, but I will enjoy it more myself!”

I am a child of the 50’s, a child (again) of the late 60’s and early 70’s. I love people, and get joy from making them happy. I am out of sync, and out of place. I weep for the future children. I cry for my society, and what it could have become. And I miss Jimmy Carter, who ‘admitted’ to the nation that he had ‘lusted in (his) heart.’ and felt shame for it.

My childhood was buccolic. Fish in the streams, penecillan still worked against just about everything, and the Red Cars ran all over LA. People were nice to each other. Even my father, who was a racist in his own way, taught me that black folk were good people, but (for a reason I never understood) we didn't socialize with them. He hired them, and treated everyone the same. I think that was what he fought for in WWII.

I think that if we don't get back to Empathy, we are going to become a nation of sociopaths. So hang up, smile at you neighbor and the poor guy on the street. Spend some of your energy on others.

Be nice to each other. That's all.

The Easy Button

Ok, I know the Israelis won't go for this, but...Whadaya think?

1) Forgive all Mexican debts to US, in exchange for Baja California.
2) Move Israel to Baja California, or Nuevo Israel. Pay to move Wailing Wall to Nuevo Israel.

Eh? What do you think? Eases Mexico/US tensions. Pulls the Jihadists excuses for terror, and they have to figure out the Palestinian problem.

Win/win? I think so. The Israelis have long known how to turn a desert into a prosperous nation. Jihadists have to come up with a new and transparent excuse for their acts. And we wind up with a prosperous, industrious, safe and secure neighbor!

We see victory in this defeat!

Administration finds the silver lining of massive defeat!

"I know what the president thinks. I know what I think. And we're not looking for an exit strategy. We're looking for victory," Cheney said in an interview posted on Time magazine's Web site Thursday.

Well gideeyap! We're doing so fucking good, we're gonna keep doing it and it's gonna work! No, we're not going to do anything different, but it's gonna get better.

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."
- Albert Einstein

Maybe Sci-Fi has it right, as well:

Sanity

Flexibility - the ability to change your opinion or course of action, if shown clear evidence you were wrong.

Satiability - the ability to feel satisfaction if you actually get what you said you wanted, and to transfer your strivings to other goals.

Extrapolation - an ability to realistically assess the possible consequences of your actions and to empathize, or guess how another person might think or feel.

"Transparent Hand" David Brin

Paraphrsing Al Franken, when confronted by a speaker who (whimsically) reflected the Administrations position that giving a date-certain for withdrawal from Iraq would encourage the terrorists to wait, " Like then they would raise hell, and they aren't now?!?!"

Just wait

OK. gang, gas is $2.53 here. Dropped 70 cents in the last two months. Wheeeee!

Just wait for November 8!!

Who wouldn't give up a couple million for billions in the future?!

What the hell is happening. Can they really count on America being that out of touch? Well...

    The poll found that 75 percent of Protestants believed in the story of creation, 79 percent in the Red Sea account and 73 percent in Noah and the ark.
    Among evangelical Protestants, those figures were 87 percent, 91 percent and 87 percent, respectively. Among Catholics, they were 51 percent, 50 percent and 44 percent. (Can you believe it? Catholics are more in touch that the freaking evengelicals and mainstream Protestants!! ed.)

    The stories still proved somewhat compelling among those who had "no religion." A quarter said they believed in Creation, almost a third said Moses parted the Red Sea, and 29 percent believe in Noah.

Yep! "No religion" and still believe in myths as truisms!!! No wonder they can believe Bush when he and his cronies are caught flat-footed in undeniable lies.

Get off your asses and WORK to get a Democratic congress. It's close...YOU may make the tiny differnce we need. Unless Diebold is counting the vote, of course,

War Underwear Gnomes

    Sen. Clinton calls for Rumsfeld's resignation

    WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Under tough questioning from U.S. senators, the head of U.S. Central Command acknowledged Thursday that Iraq could descend into civil war.

    "I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I've seen it, in Baghdad in particular, and that if not stopped it is possible that Iraq could move toward civil war," Gen. John Abizaid testified at a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

    Fueling this possibility, he said, was the combination of "sectarian violence, al Qaeda terrorists, insurgents and Shia militants."

So, basically, everyone that isn't a civilian (and not "dead"  because of our noble endeavor [about 120,000 so far])

    "Failure to apply coordinated regional and international pressure ... will further extremism" and could lead to a widening and more perilous conflict, he said.

    Abizaid was joined by Gen. Peter Pace, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, whose exchanges with Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York were polite but testy.

    "Under your leadership, there have been numerous errors in judgment that have led us to where we are in Iraq and Afghanistan," said Clinton, a possible 2008 Democratic candidate for the White House.

"...errors in judgment..."?! Hillary, do you mean "blind, stupid acts that were were opposed by our best military analysts when they were proposed, and those analysts fired?

    After the hearing, Clinton called for Rumsfeld's resignation.

Duh!

    "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people," she told The Associated Press. "It's time for him to step down."

    Her criticisms included not enough U.S. troops; the initial disbanding of the Iraqi army; and a lack of planning* to maintain stability after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was overthrown.

    "You underestimated the nature and strength of the insurgency, the sectarian violence and the spread of Iranian influence," said Clinton.

Perhaps you mean, "Ignored the possibility of an insurgency  from the newly enfreed Islamacist factions and a whole shitload of foreigners who have trooped into Iraq over borders unprotected by our insufficient troops?

    The United States is boosting troop levels, not decreasing them, she said, and civilian and military casualties were also rising.

    Clinton also criticized Rumsfeld for underestimating the Taliban when he said in late 2002 that the group no longer existed in Afghanistan. The Taliban, which harbored Osama bin Laden, has since resurfaced with a vengeance.

    The defense secretary responded to Clinton. "Are there setbacks? Yes. Are there things that people can't anticipate? Yes. Does the enemy have a brain and continue to make adjustments on the ground requiring our forces to make adjustments? You bet," he said.

    "Is that going to continue to be the case? I think so. Is this problem going to get solved in the near term about this long struggle against violent extremism? No, I don't believe it is."

For the plain-English speaking among you, read. "Are there setbacks? Yes. Should we have anticipated this by listening to the finest minds in the civilian and military establishments instead of firing them for being "nervous Nellies"? Yes. Does the enemy have a brain and continue to make adjustments on the ground requiring our forces to make adjustments? You bet," he said.

"Is that going to continue to be the case? I think so. Is this problem going to get solved in the near term about this long struggle against violent extremism? No, I don't believe it is."

   

Rumsfeld: Withdrawal 'premature'

    Troop levels were based on what was "the best judgment" of commanders and civilian leadership, Rumsfeld said.

    He reiterated his position that a withdrawal of U.S. troops must be based on evolving conditions and warned against withdrawing them "prematurely."

"premature withdrawal...can have a high failure rate" and is not an effective terrorist control method, nor is "premature entry"

    The enemy wants to see U.S. public opinion divided, he said. Rumsfeld also noted the difficulty of a "balance between having too many [troops] and contributing to an insurgency by the feeling of occupation -- and the risk of having too few and having the security situation not be sufficient for the political progress to go forward."

"So, in essence, we don't know what the fuck to do now..."

    Rumsfeld disputed Clinton's contention that his assurances on successes in the past "have frankly proven to be unfulfilled."

    "I don't think that's true," he said. "I have never painted a rosy picture. I have been very measured in my words." He contended it would be tough finding "instances where I have been excessively optimistic."

So, who here remembers our "Catastrophic success" there?

   British envoy warned of civil war

    The hearing came on the heels of a leaked diplomatic cable, in which Britain's outgoing ambassador to Baghdad, William Patey, warned that civil war was more likely than a successful transition to democracy in Iraq.

Don't it pain ya when your best buds finally decide you are a complete dork? Looks like we'll be able to eat French Fries und Vienerschnitzel again soon, but may have to give up fish'n'chips.

    Abizaid defined three main objectives in dealing with the Middle East, which he said he has "rarely seen ... so unsettled and so volatile." Those aims were defeating al Qaeda; deterring Iran; and developing a comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

    The general said he was optimistic, however, that the "slide can be prevented."

    "The army is holding together ... and the government is committed to bringing the sectarian violence under control," Abizaid said.

    'A game of whack-a-mole'

This is so fucking cute

    Sectarian killings in Iraq have escalated since the February 22 bombing of the Shiite Askariya Mosque in Samarra. Nearly 6,000 people died in Iraqi violence in May and June alone, according to a recent U.N. report.

    McCain was also concerned that U.S. troops are simply being moved from one trouble spot to another.

    "What I worry about is we're playing a game of whack-a-mole," he said.

    McCain cited Falluja and Ramadi as examples.

    "Everybody knows we've got big problems in Ramadi, and I said where are you going to get the troops? 'Well we're going to have to move them from Falluja.'

    "Now we're going to have to move troops into Baghdad from someplace else," he said referring to the deployment of U.S. troops to the capital to support Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's crackdown on insurgents. "It's very disturbing."

    Nearly 2,600 U.S. service members have been killed in the three-year-old war.

    Fears of warfare spreading

    Abizaid warned that if "nonstate" enemies of the United States dominate this century, "We are in for even greater dangers.

    "It should not be lost on us, for example, that Hezbollah fields greater and longer-range weapons than most regional armed forces.

    "If left unchecked, it is possible to imagine chemical, biological or even nuclear weapons being transferred to militias or terrorist organizations by a state actor."

*The war going as planned? Absurd concept. See, ya gotta have a plan tor anything to go according to it.

The “Decider” and Deputy and Assistant Deciders of Action in Iraq are much more like the Underwear Gnomes of South Park: “Phase One: Collect underpants. Phase Three: Profit”

Ya see?: “Phase One: Start war. Phase Three: Profit” Except in the war Phase Three started at the same time as Phase One. There never was a Phase Two. It received as much attention from The Idiot Monkey Crew as it did from The Underwear Gnomes.

‘Course there were some folks who thought there should be some attention paid to Phase Two, but they were fired.

The public just smiled…and re-elected the Idiot Monkey Crew because they felt their leader was actually doing a good job or it would be unwise to change horses in the middle of the flood even if the horse they were on had four broken legs, was blind, and had spent its life eating Jimson weed.